Per his contract, Postel will earn a salary of $950,000 for at least one year. The board also awarded him a $100,000 bonus thanking him for his work as interim president, a role he has served in .Ěý

Postel has been at the university for 24 years. The former chairman of UofL’s radiology department was named interim vice president for health affairs in 2015 and has continued in that role during his time as interim president.

Postel’s new contract begins May 15 and is for one year. After May 15, 2019, he becomes an at-will employee.

During his time as president, Postel led the university through an impressive list of accomplishments, including:

• Removal from probation by SACSCOC and completion of 10-year SACSCOC reaffirmation including QEP review
• Completion of 2016-2017 academic year ahead of budget and forecast for completion of 2017-2018 academic year ahead of budget
• Creation of a balanced budget for 2018-2019 academic year with introduction of revenue targets (risk/reward)
• Major restructuring/cultural change in Athletics
• Unwind of the joint operating agreement with KentuckyOne Health
• Successful on budget near completion of four large construction projects: Belknap Academic Building, Student Activities Center, Pediatric Medical Office Building and Papa John’s Cardinal Football Stadium Expansion (All should be completed this summer.)
• Success in strategic enrollment management with applications for admission at 15,000 compared to 11,000 at this time last year
• Continued progress in community engagement highlighted by groundbreaking of a $100 million project in West Louisville in conjunction with Passport

Also during Postel’s tenure as interim president, deans of the Speed School, Brandeis School of Law, College of Business and School of Nursing were appointed. Vice presidents were named for Enterprise Risk Management, Athletics, Community Engagement and Operations. Also, a new CFO was named for the HSC campus, a new director named for the James Graham Brown Cancer Center, and a new head men’s basketball coach was named.

In his appointment letter, board members thanked Postel for an “outstanding job.”

“You have been a tireless change agent who has worked effectively with the board to put the university on sound financial footing, rebuild trust and relationships within the university and across the state, and position the university for growth,” the letter states. “Leading through times of transition is difficult, and you have done it superbly.”

Earlier this month, UofL’s Faculty Senate unanimously passed a resolution thanking Postel for his interim leadership during challenging times.

As part of his role as EVP for health affairs, Postel will be responsible for ensuring that University Physicians Group Inc. is a regional center of excellence for health sciences education, research and clinical care. He will be tasked with participating in and facilitating strategic planning for the University Medical Center, Passport, UofL Health Care, University Physicians Associates, the James Graham Brown Cancer Center and related entities. This includes determining the allocation of resources from UMC, UPA and UofL Health Care.

Postel will also serve on the board of directors for UMC and as chair of the board and CEO of University Physicians’ Group Inc. He will report directly to the president and will advise the president on policies, programs and operations.

Postel said the media availability meeting was an important opportunity because he has an obligation to be transparent.

“My style is open communication,” he said. “Because of that, we tend to be forthcoming with documents. It’s not necessary to file for open records requests when the information is publicly offered up on our website. We’ll do our very best to maintain that as long as I’m in this position.”

Postel outlined his initial priorities, including the accelerated growth of the university.

“For this to be a vibrant organization for years and years to come, it’s important to focus on opportunities to expand and offer more services in the areas where we’re needed and can be of value to community,” he said.

Budget

Postel also noted that the administration is currently working on the budget and will present it to the Board of Trustees in May. Because UofL is not raising tuition this year, the budgeting process is expected to be a bit more challenging, he said.

“We are holding true to that (no increase in tuition) commitment. I’m excited about that for our students, both existing and those joining the university in the coming year,” Postel said. “But that also poses challenges for us tasked with achieving a balanced budget because we don’t have additional revenue. It is an opportunity and a challenge that we gladly accept.”

SACS Accreditation

Postel has also spent much of his first few weeks in Frankfort meeting with the Governor and state legislators on how to rectify UofL’s probationary status issued by the university’s accrediting body, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, in December.

“It is important to note that we still have full accreditation. We are making sure the university is responding in every way possible to concerns about accreditation that have been posted by SACS,” he said. “All of the legislators I’ve talked to are keenly aware of the issue and understand how critical it is for these issues to be resolved with SACS. They all have very good intentions to help the University of Louisville through this process.” 

Any documents that pertains to this issue, whether prepared by the university or by SACS, will be shared with the campus community on the Louisville.edu/president website. UofL has until March 3 to respond to SACS’ most recent letter, which is also available online.

Q&A

Other topics posed by the media during a brief Q&A session included Postel’s dual role as interim president and interim EVP of Health Affairs, the national search for a permanent president and performance-based funding of state institutions.

Dual role

Postel said it is possible for him to maintain his position as Interim EVP of Health Affairs while serving as president because of the teams that are in place at the university.

“The bottom line is I have to just be very careful about my priorities. I am spending my time on those things that are extremely important to both campuses,” he said. “I’m very efficient, I work a lot of hours, I delegate and it’s not forever, so that’s why it works.”

He added that it is important to maintain his position at HSC because that campus provides a substantial part of the university’s livelihood, representing about 55 percent of faculty and about 80 percent of research.

Search for a permanent president

The search for a permanent president is a long, multi-step process that entails a search committee and a search firm. Postel said he was told to expect about a year and a half in the position.

He added that he is not actively campaigning for the job as president, but is “always happy to do what UofL asks me to do.”

“If asked to serve, I would certainly consider it,” he said.

Performance-based funding

Postel was asked about his opinion on performance-based funding, a topic Governor Matt Bevin has proposed and discussed most recently at the State of the Commonwealth Address earlier this month.

“I’m very much in favor of performance-based funding. Even though I’m an academic at heart, I have a very business-like approach to running an organization because businesses have to be viable,” he said. “To be held accountable and paid at least in part based on some kinds of metrics is an expectation we should all have.”

Postel said this approach could be challenging because different universities may have different perspectives about what they contribute, but he favors key metrics such as:

• Producing more graduates
• Getting students their degrees in a reasonable amount of time
• Making sure graduates are employable

“I think these are the types of things we can all be supportive of. What are the workforce needs in the city and the state and are we meeting them?” Postel said.

Background

Postel replaces Dr. Neville Pinto, who was named the new president of the University of Cincinnati in December. He joined UofL’s School of Medicine in 1994 as an assistant professor of radiology specializing in neuroradiology. He later became the chair of the Department of Radiology.

In 2011, Postel was the founding chairman of the board for University of Louisville Physicians, and later took on the added role of CEO. He was a key player in unifying dozens of medical practices under the ULP umbrella.

Postel was named vice dean of Clinical Affairs in 2014, and interim EVP for Health Affairs in 2015. As EVP, he directs approximately 1,000 faculty members and 3,600 students.

He earned his medical degree from Case Western Reserve University in 1988 and his undergraduate degree from the College of Wooster in Ohio in 1984.

Postel’s meeting is available below in its entirety.Ěý